Gen V<\/a><\/p>\nHell Week<\/p>\n
\n Season 2<\/p>\n
Episode 7\n <\/p>\n
\n Editor\u2019s Rating<\/p>\n
3 stars<\/p>\n
***\n <\/p>\n
\n Most of \u201cHell Week\u201d is about clarifying the Cipher problem once and for all with Marie setting out to find the decrepit Thomas Godolkin like Stan Edgar wanted.
\n Photo: Jasper Savage\/Prime\n <\/p>\n
At 36 minutes before credits, the penultimate episode of Gen V\u2019s second season is its shortest yet. And while it does everything it sets out to do, setting up a new version of an old threat just in time for the season finale, it could use a little more meat on its bones. I was fairly entertained watching this episode, but it\u2019s all starting to feel a bit perfunctory, especially for those who figured out the big Cipher twist a while ago.<\/p>\n
Most of \u201cHell Week\u201d is about clarifying the Cipher problem once and for all with Marie setting out to find the decrepit Thomas Godolkin like Stan Edgar wanted. She and Cate make for a good team, but they\u2019d be unstoppable if Marie could get over her distrust of Cate and heal her. (That\u2019s the main secondary conflict of the episode.) Unfortunately, even after a monologue in which Cate promises never to use her powers on the gang again, Marie can\u2019t quite believe she has fundamentally changed.<\/p>\n
When the two arrive at Cipher\u2019s house, he and his \u201cfather\u201d are gone. Polarity is there, though, and he knows he can exploit Cipher\u2019s otherwise effortless mind-control abilities with his own electromagnetic pulses. And he\u2019s even more powerful after Marie heals him during one of his seizures, curing him of his tremors altogether. Sean Patrick Thomas gets another great acting moment here with Polarity\u2019s tearful relief at feeling healthy again.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s too bad Cate is denied that same catharsis for now. She and Marie get into yet another fight about her loyalties, and Marie really unloads, blaming her for what happened to Andre. At this point, what character hasn\u2019t gotten the blame for his death? Polarity himself chimes in to defend Cate and blame himself, since he never told his son about the fatal condition he\u2019d passed down. Before they can reach any real resolution, though, Cipher is calling them from the training room, reiterating his offer: Marie can come and train with him to become the most powerful being on earth. If she doesn\u2019t, she and all her friends are fucked along with the other supes Cipher wants to cull.<\/p>\n
While all this is going on, the rest of the gang is splitting up to find Marie and warn her about Annabeth\u2019s nightmare-premonition of her bloodied, motionless body. On the drive back to campus, Annabeth opens up a bit to Jordan about her powers. When she asks if they and Marie are dating, Jordan replies, \u201cI thought we were.\u201d Even if everyone makes it out of this one alive, it might be hard for Jordan to trust Marie going forward. She insists she doesn\u2019t want to be a \u201cchosen one,\u201d yet she acts exactly like a typical self-sacrificial hero, slipping out in the dead of night and doing what needs to be done.<\/p>\n
After an episode and a half away from campus, it\u2019s good to see everyone back. The college setting is what makes Gen V stand out; R-rated Sky High is just an irresistible premise. That said, I\u2019m not crazy about this episode\u2019s titular hazing subplot, which saddles Sam with a pledge named Hemple to follow him around and be his \u201cbondage baby\u201d for the day. It\u2019s just not that amusing, and \u201cHell Week\u201d isn\u2019t necessarily calling for some goofy comic relief at this point.<\/p>\n
I would\u2019ve rather spent more time with Sam and Emma, or Sam and Greg. I can\u2019t tell exactly what the show wants me to feel about this love triangle; I assume I should be rooting for Emma to choose Sam over nice-guy Greg, given their deep bond and history in season one (and given the fact that we barely know Greg), but that\u2019s not my reaction. Sam\u2019s jealousy of Greg doesn\u2019t make me yearn for a reconciliation with Emma. I still want to see where Emma and Greg could go. Look at the way they look at each other! I\u2019m genuinely not sure where the finale will leave this love triangle, but I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if one of the boys doesn\u2019t make it to season three.<\/p>\n
Everyone intercepts Marie on her way to find Thomas Godolkin, and Annabeth warns her about the premonition. She also establishes her future-seeing credentials by dropping this bombshell: She had a vision of their parents dying before it happened! She hated herself for not saving them but chose to hate her sister instead. It\u2019s nice to see her finally stop being a brat and acknowledge her projecting, but I\u2019d love for one character on this show not to blame themselves for a loved one\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
Marie still insists on going through with her plan, and she even stops the gang from intervening by levitating them like she did to Jordan. (Getting levitated for a second time might be a breakup-worthy offense.) She could accept Cate\u2019s help and heal her, but she wants to do everything herself. She knows her own power now, and we know from her prior encounters with Cipher that some part of her enjoys getting stronger.<\/p>\n
Of course, the gang wouldn\u2019t just let Marie go off alone. While Polarity, Greg, Sam, and Jordan keep Cipher distracted, Emma, Cate, and Annabeth go looking for her. When they find her, she has already found Godolkin and healed him, transforming the old man into the guy we saw in the season\u2019s opening flashback (played by Ethan Slater). He\u2019s spry now, and deeply grateful to Marie for taking his pain away. But it\u2019s Cate who sees Godolkin and recognizes the full truth: He\u2019s the real Cipher. The man we knew as Cipher was just a human pawn, a helpless normie named Doug who became a host for a powerful supe. Polarity and the others learn this when \u201cCipher\u201d collapses on the floor and says, \u201cHe\u2019s finally out of my head.\u201d<\/p>\n
Next week\u2019s episode will explore the full ramifications of this reveal, but I have to say, I\u2019m bummed at the idea that Hamish Linklater is gone now, that the season finale belongs to Ethan Slater. He\u2019s good and menacing in that final scene, beginning his planned culling by forcing Hemple to choke himself to death with his chain, but Linklater fully owned this season, and I\u2019m doubtful that Slater can pull off the same oddball charisma. The success of the finale might come down to how the show handles the characters we\u2019re actually rooting for. Will Marie reach her full potential as a hero, or is the possibility of becoming an apex predator just too tempting?<\/p>\n
\u2022 Hemple is introduced via a frat guy shitting him out, something I\u2019m completely desensitized to now after watching The Boys and this show. Can we think of a new supe kink other than people cramming themselves into each other\u2019s anuses? (That might be one of the worst sentences I\u2019ve ever typed.)<\/p>\n
\u2022 Sam\u2019s monologue about feeling things is interesting in theory, but I wish we\u2019d seen more of the actual getting-medicated process. I really liked his visit to his parents\u2019 house, but that episode had to do a lot of heavy lifting in terms of selling Sam\u2019s mental-health journey and road to recovery\/redemption.<\/p>\n
\u2022 The \u201cwhack-a-mole\u201d fight with Cipher mind-controlling his attackers into hurting each other is pretty fun.<\/p>\n
\u2022 The last time I was annoyed at a show for swapping out an actor I loved for a much less charming version of the same villain was while watching The Flash on the CW. Matt Letscher\u2019s Eobard Thawne\/Reverse Flash has his moments, but he just isn\u2019t nearly as fun as Tom Cavanagh\u2019s take on the same character (given the name \u201cHarrison Wells\u201d in the first season). Even the show understood that eventually.<\/p>\n
\u2022 The ending song to soundtrack Thomas walking across campus: \u201cYoung at Heart,\u201d by Frank Sinatra. Nice.<\/p>\n
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